Small plans can think big with benefits, retirement solutions

Because of the young average  employee age at Work at Play, getting buy-in for a benefits plan was a challenge in the years following the company’s 1999 creation, says Mandy Eagles Gratton. Management didn’t want to go to the trouble and expense when interest was lacking. In those early days, the company had just eight employees, all of whom worked from home and were content with just the paycheque and flexible work arrangement. She says it wasn’t until she joined the Vancouver-based digital marketing agency as HR manager in 2005 that the critical mass needed to implement a plan began to take shape.

“At that point, we had a lot more staff and a slightly higher average age. People were starting to have families and had a lot more interest in health and dental,” says Eagles Gratton.

New contracts with large clients such as Viacom and Mattel had prompted rapid growth, and Eagles Gratton says the company realized that in order to attract the top talent it would require in a competitive industry, it needed an attractive compensation package. “For people who are coming from outside, from companies that we’re trying to compete with, especially in a very niche kind of position, that [benefits package] is something that’s really good to be able to offer.”

Statistics certainly indicate that people are looking for benefits from their employers. According to the Randstad Workmonitor, published in December 2010, 49% of Canadians surveyed indicated that their benefits increased over the previous year, and 61% expected their benefits to improve in 2011. And, in an environment that is moving toward growth and hiring after a period of recessionary retraction, the ability of smaller companies to compete for talent against their larger competitors is going to be vital to their continued success....